Mumbai: The ubiquitous independent candidates and smaller political outfits - the bane of mainstream parties - appeared to have put up a surprising performance in the Maharashtra assembly elections, as per trends available by Thursday noon.
Though the final results will take few hours more to get a clear picture, among the prominent ones who have established lead positions in around 30 constituencies in the state are:
* In a possible huge upset, sitting high-profile MLA Praniti (Sushilkumar) Shinde was trailing behind an independent Mahesh V. Kothe by a margin of 2,250 votes in Solapur City Central.
* Bahujan Vikas Aghadi's Kshitij H. Thakur is leading in Nala Sopara with a margin of 16,000 votes over his nearest Shiv Sena rival and former 'encounter specialist cop' Pradeep H. Sharma.
* His father, sitting MLA Hitendra V. Thakur is giving a tough time to Shiv Sena's Vijay G. Patil by securing a margin of over 7,500 votes.
* All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM)'s candidate Abdul Gaffar Syed in Aurangabad East was giving a tough time to BJP's Atul M. Save with a margin of over 43,000 votes.
* AIMIM's Malegaon Central candidate M. Ismail Khalique was leading over his nearest Congress rival Asif R. Shaikh by over 26,000 votes.
* Samajwadi Party state President Abu Asim Azmi was leading in Mankhurd -Shivajinagar (Mumbai) over his Shiv Sena rival Vithal Lokare by a margin of around 30,000 votes.
* Krantikari Shetkari Party's Shankarrao Y. Gadakh is leading in Nevasa by over his nearest BJP rival Balasaheb D. Murkute by around 6,500 votes.
* In Rajura, Swatantra Bharat Paksha's Adv. Wamanrao S. Chatap is leading by 4,000 votes over his nearest rival Congress' Subhas R. Dhote.
* The Peasants & Workers Party candidate in Loha Shyamsunder Shinde was leading over his nearest Shiv Sena rival Mukteshwar Dhondge by a margin of over 26,000 votes.
* In Melghat, Prahar Janshakti Party's was leading over his BJP rival Ramesh Mawaskar by over 37,000 votes.
* A former BJP MLA, now the Loksangram Party's Anil Gote was leading in Dhule City over his nearest independent rival Rajwardhan Kadambande, with other mainstream parties trailing way behind.
* Uran independent candidate Mahesh Baldi was giving a tough time to Shiv Sena's Manohar G. Bhoir by a margin of over 5,000 votes.
* In Shirol, independent Rajendra S. Patil over his Shiv Sena rival Ulhas S. Patil by over 13,000 votes.
* Independent, supported by BJP in Badnera is Ravi Rana, who is a nephew of Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and husband of independent MP, actress Navneet Kaur Rana, elected in May 2019. Rana is leading by over 5000 votes.
* Another independent in Bhandara Narendra Bhondekar is giving a tough time to his nearest BJP sitting MLA Arvind M. Bhaladhare with a lead margin of 5,700 votes.
* In Chandrapur, an independent Kishore Jorgewar is leading over his main BJP rival Sitaram Nanaji Shamkule with a margin of over 8,600 votes.
* An independent Prakashanna Awade was leading over his BJP rival Suresh Halwankar by over 33,000 votes.
* In Karmala, independent Narayan G. Patil had notched a lead of around 2,000 votes over his nearest Shiv Sena nominee Rashmi D. Bagal.
* In Hadgaon, an independent Kadam Kohalikar was leading over his Congress rival Madhavrao Patil by over 10,000 votes.
